Photography on tour

[P.H]

Anyone tried a GorillaPod? It looks like something which could be useful.

I bought one a couple of weeks ago, after seeing a review in Cycle. Not used it much yet, but had a good play with it. Very easy to attach the camera to just about anything including various bits of the bike. Quick and secure, I just need to slightly modify the shoe so it can stay on the camera without blocking the battery compartment.

 

[campagman]

I've been out today and bought my first digital compact (Panasonic DMC LS75). I had asked around friends for advice, etc and was convinced that I should buy a camera that had a view finder so that I could turn the screen off and save the batteries. It may be difficult to recharge the batteries on a long remote tour. I had originally intended to buy a Powershot as recommended on here but the guy in the shop convinced me to buy the Panasonic even though it was £10 cheaper. It was not until I got home that I realised that the Panasonic does not have a view finder so I will have to use the screen.
I have not used or even unpacked the camera yet so could take it back on Mon but I thought that I should ask for some comments on this thread about the ability to use a view finder without the screen. Is this something that is important or do people use the screen all the time anyway?

 

[friedel]

I've been out today and bought my first digital compact (Panasonic DMC LS75). I had asked around friends for advice, etc and was convinced that I should buy a camera that had a view finder so that I could turn the screen off and save the batteries. It may be difficult to recharge the batteries on a long remote tour. I had originally intended to buy a Powershot as recommended on here but the guy in the shop convinced me to buy the Panasonic even though it was £10 cheaper. It was not until I got home that I realised that the Panasonic does not have a view finder so I will have to use the screen.
I have not used or even unpacked the camera yet so could take it back on Mon but I thought that I should ask for some comments on this thread about the ability to use a view finder without the screen. Is this something that is important or do people use the screen all the time anyway?

I really like having a view finder. I don't know exact battery times for your camera, but our Sony which does not have a viewfinder certainly eats energy a lot more than our bigger and more complex Nikon D80 SLR. We only have to charge the Nikon maybe once every 3-4 weeks but the Sony is rarely fully charged. If we use it to shoot a video for a few minutes or just snapping a lot of pictures over a couple days it needs a charge. The other option would be to buy a spare battery for your Panasonic to give you a backup.

 

[andrew_s]

On my last tour I took a Canon 400d DSLR and 17-85 and 100-400 zooms. Together with cases and a full-size pair of binoculars, they occupied the whole main compartment of a Nelson saddlebag, and added significant extra weight to the load. The camera case was a Lowepro Off-trail 1 with a belt, and I mostly rode with the camera and short zoom round my waist for quick access.
Unless photography is one of the objectives of your tour I think you'd be better off with a compact camera in the back pocket of your jersey, on the basis that you'd take a lot more photos if you don't have to stop and faff so much.

Compacts:
I carry mine in a back pocket, with a longish strap over the shoulder clipped in to the camera wrist strap. This allows near instant access, and also "while riding" shots of your companions of a type that aren't possible in ant other way. It's handy to have something between the camera and the inside of the jersey to keep sweat off, and don't forget it's there if it starts raining.
5 Mpix is perfectly OK for prints up to A4/10x8 or on-screen display and there isn't really any significant gain in image quality as you increase the resolution, so there are some good bargains to be had if the rest of the spec fits.
Quite apart from the impact on battery life, it can be very difficult to see the image on a camera screen in bright sunlight. Unless there's a separate viewfinder you can end up trying to aim the camera by guesswork. Clip on or stick on shades help a bit, but are a decidedly second-rate answer to the problem.
A camera that uses AA batteries is nice to have, as you aren't quite so tied to mains electricity. I wouldn't be a bit happy about leaving a camera charging from the shaver socket in a camp site toilet block for example, but I would be willing to risk a set of AA rechargables and charger. You also get to use the same charger for GPS, bike lights etc. However AA batteries are comparatively bulky, so you end up with a bigger camera.

 

[Kirstie]

I use a Canon IxusII digital camera - it's really small, the pic quality is great, and the battery (also small) lasts about 5 days with daily use. I'm about to post up some links to photos from my recent tour of Sutherland. You photo people will probably find loads wrong with the pics but I am pleased with them. More later...

 

[campagman]

According to the manual I should be able to get 230 pics min. from a couple of rechargeable Ni-mh batteries. I bought 4 batteries and a charger with the camera so should be able to get plenty of pics between charges.
I am now more concerned about bright sunlight making the screen useless for composing shots. Having the option of a viewfinder would be useful.
When the guy sold me the camera he made a big thing about lens stabilisation, which this camera has and the powershot does not. He said that all the good and more expensive cameras have this and so should be something I should be looking for. Is this a very useful feature to look for?

Thanks for the comments so far.

 

[John the Monkey]

According to the manual I should be able to get 230 pics min. from a couple of rechargeable Ni-mh batteries. I bought 4 batteries and a charger with the camera so should be able to get plenty of pics between charges.

In a pinch you can put in standard alkalines too, I guess, so you shouldn't be stuck.

I am now more concerned about bright sunlight making the screen useless for composing shots. Having the option of a viewfinder would be useful.

I've been less than impressed with the optical viewfinders on digital compacts myself - I have an Agfa Isolette, a folding, medium format camera from the 1950's, that has a better viewfinder than the one on my powershot I found with mine (powershot) I could usually shade the screen enough with my hand to make it usable (may not be an option if you want to shoot one handed though). You could always try some with optical viewfinders and see whether you think they're worthwhile or not.

When the guy sold me the camera he made a big thing about lens stabilisation, which this camera has and the powershot does not. He said that all the good and more expensive cameras have this and so should be something I should be looking for. Is this a very useful feature to look for?

Depends what you intend to do with the camera.

Image stabilisation compensates for involuntary movements of the hands whilst shooting at low shutter speeds. The old rule of thumb was to shoot at the inverse of your focal length, so a 50mm lens would be shot at 1/50 of a second or faster, a 100mm lens at 1/100 of a second or faster. The lower the speed, the more likely that you get blurry pictures because of your hands not being quite steady.

Image stabilisation is one approach to the problem of shooting in low-ish light (the other being to boost high ISO performance, allowing shutter speeds fast enough to not be affected by camera shake).

The image stabilisation approach is great for static subjects, but anything moving when you shoot at 1/30s, or 1/2s (for example) will be blurred in the frame. To freeze motion you need higher shutter speeds, and so might prefer a camera that allows those by giving good high ISO performance, depending on what conditions you think you'll be using the camera in.